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Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 80, 11 May 1914, Page 6

A close interest is being maintained by the Christchurch public in the local competitions, which, an annual festival, grow each succeeding year more popular. The competitions movement began in Victoria years ago, and have culminated in that splendid gathering of amateur artists known as the South Street Festival. Competitors attend from all over Australia, and the prize-list is notably generous and comprehensive. The standard attained by the leading amateurs is better at South Street than anywhere el?e, and quite a number of amateurs have found the Ballarat gathering a stepping stone to the professional stage. New Zealand, which has taken to the competitions habit seriously, has not yet produced any notable amateurs. This is due more or less to the fact that the "coaches" of the Dominion have not specialised in this matter as have their brethren in portions of Australia, notably Victoria. There is a tendency on the part of ultra-sensitive

to sneer at these amateur coni tests in art on the ground that no useful ipurpose is served and that uncharitabletness and rancour are generated among the participants. But there is something to be said on the other side. Given intelligent committees with the to select the right matter for the various tests, there surely must be a benefit to competitors, who enter into the spirit of the garpe. Every year the standard required by the judges is made more exalted. The test selections both in music and elocution 'are of a nature that demands from the competitor a great deal more than a superficial reading. If the competitions have done nothing more, they have at least brought it home to the earnest aspirant for fame that for a competent judge to be satisfied, the artist must demonstrate that he has 'understood the piece in all its moods and tenses. Many an ambitious amateur has attacked grand operatic* music fortified in her ambition by the faet that she is tone perfect in, say, Tosti's lamentable ."Good-bye." In brief, these competitions should inculcate in the really serious amateur anxious to improve ' a desire to get inside a number in order that the composer's intentions may hot be disregarded or overlooked. Thus, study is encouraged. And in the elocutionist the competitions may engender. a love for the best in letters, whieh will lead to the cultivation of a taste for the more stimulating literature.